"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14). When the beloved apostle Paul penned these words he was no doubt giving expression to the greatest triumph in his life. They carry with them a note of victory. The world has no place in his life; he is dead to it, and it is dead to him. It is wonderful to know that his sins are put away, but here he is not glorying in that. Here, because of his identification with the cross, he is glorying in the fact that the world is crucified to him, and he is crucified to the world.

It is true that on the cross sin was put away, but that was through the atoning work of the One who gave His life-blood for the remission of sins. When we consider the cross in itself, we get other thoughts about it. The atonement wrought there was the work accomplished on the cross. This, every intelligent believer knows for himself.

But what about the cross on which the work was done? Paul brings in the cross to show us there is more in connection with it than the death of Christ. It is this manner of death that gives the great value to it, because there goes with it the lowest extreme of shame and suffering; "it was the severest penalty of a slave." The ruin of man is seen there. It represents all that man is in his ruined condition. Toward it all things gravitate; from it all things radiate.

Since the cross is the expression of the end of man, then for mankind to be saved, the Lord Jesus must take that place in their stead. This being so, why should not every one who comes under the shelter of the atoning work of Christ therefore identify himself with the cross whereon He took their place? It is easy to outwardly accept Christ as Saviour, but to identify oneself with His cross is another thing.

—S.H.